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Channel 4 Documentaries commission The Complainers

A brand new six-part series enters the new world of our burgeoning complaints culture and its impact on British industry.

Ordered by Nick Mirsky, Channel 4’s Deputy Head of Factual, this funny and compelling documentary series will reflect a boom time in consumer power and the extraordinary response from some of Britain’s best-known companies.

Made by the award-winning production company Dragonfly (One Born Every Minute, The Hotel, Plane Crash) The Complainers will document how our relationship with the commercial world is changing.

The banking sector, rail companies, airlines, universities, supermarkets, telephone companies and the NHS are all experiencing spiralling rises in complaints. To deal with the onslaught, 40% of our work force is now engaged in customer services, with more than a million low paid workers employed in call centres around the country.

Gaining access to some of the biggest British companies and their most harangued complaint handlers, The Complainers will be in the trenches with Britain’s army of call centre workers, social media teams trying to stay ahead of the game, and on the frontline as workers tackle irate customers at train stations, in councils, department stores and phone shops.

When it costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it does to retain an existing one, the stakes couldn’t be higher for British business. Companies are now investing millions in customer care.With unprecedented access to the specialist complaint consultants, The Complainers will follow the innovative and extraordinary lengths progressive companies will go to in the battle to retain their business.

The cameras will also go into the homes of the complainers themselves to discover what drives them on. Are they on the make, taking advantage of companies during a vulnerable time, or feeling empowered to deal with genuine injustice?

The 6 x 60m series is made by Dragonfly Film and Television, executive produced by Tamara Abood and will be broadcast in 2014 on Channel 4.